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Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Hello! I have read and researched I think just about everything. I even had a company come out to "OPEN" my pool, well, they just stopped showing up & won't return my calls. We are a military family that hopefully won't stay longer than expected here, so we are renting our house with the pool. Rental company will not get all the info needed so, information in signature is what has been told to me.
Green Algae so I know i need to SHOCK & use TONS of Chlorine to start. When the company came out they said our vacuum isn't working correctly OR the sand in our filter needs changed. I have spent TONS of money on just chemicals that everyone keeps telling me I need and really would like to throw the cover on and call it good before spending TONS more.

Any suggestions as to what to do? Am I making ANY sense??? Getting frustrated with this thing but my kids keep asking me to fix it.

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Welcome to TFP.
Have you learned how to use the Pool Calculator?
First thing to do is get the pH down. Use the pool calc to figure out how much muratic acid to add.
Then you need to add enough bleach to get the FC up to shock level for a CYA of 40.

You will get this clear it takes a little time but time and bleach is all it takes.
Post any questions you may have and we'll help.

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

First things first. When you turn on the pump/filter, does it work? Is there water flow? Not just a little, but real movement? It should feel like someone's got the garden hose on and is squirting your hand from a few inches away. What does the pressure gauge read? Does it go to zero when you turn it off? Does the pump hum, or squeal, or make swooshing noises? Can you see air in the pump basket? Is the pump basket loaded with debris?

Once you have some circulation, then we can worry about backflushing, figuring out how the vacuum works, and shocking it. Speaking of which, are those test results from a store, a test kit, or test strips? As soon as it stops being a stagnant swamp and becomes a circulating swamp, you'll need a good test kit. It is essential. Without it, you're just dumping expensive chemicals in the pool willy-nilly. You'd have better luck trying to paint a masterpiece in a black room. Same thing, working blind.

16K freeform gunite with spa; Pentair 4000 DE filter; Century Whisperflow 1 HP; Pentair Minimax heater.Troublefree does not mean Maintenancefree. It's like brushing your teeth: You can spend a couple minutes a day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend several thousand dollars.A pool is like a pet - you have to feed it every day, even the days you don't want to play with it!

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

First things first. When you turn on the pump/filter, does it work? Yes it works and from what I see it works good. Is there water flow? Not just a little, but real movement? It should feel like someone's got the garden hose on and is squirting your hand from a few inches away. What does the pressure gauge read? Pressure Gauge doesn't move, it stays on zero. Does it go to zero when you turn it off? Does the pump hum, or squeal, or make swooshing noises? Pump doesn't make noises. There is a filter/skimmer basket attached to the pump and it all seems to be working to the best I know. I hear swooshing when I shut it off to backwash. The jar on the side turns algae water then when it fades, I shut it off again and rinse, then back to filter. Can you see air in the pump basket? None that I see. Is the pump basket loaded with debris? Cleaned, no debris.

Once you have some circulation, then we can worry about backflushing, figuring out how the vacuum works, and shocking it. Speaking of which, are those test results from a store, a test kit, or test strips? I used the HTH water kit with the drops for the previous test results I posted. I also compared them with the the test strips. They were in the same range- give or take a few.

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Well, one of those is easy - you need a new gauge. It's cheap and easy to replace.

That test kit will be okay for day-to-day use, but not for shocking. It won't read high enough. You can buy just the FAS-DPD kit for that.

16K freeform gunite with spa; Pentair 4000 DE filter; Century Whisperflow 1 HP; Pentair Minimax heater.Troublefree does not mean Maintenancefree. It's like brushing your teeth: You can spend a couple minutes a day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend several thousand dollars.A pool is like a pet - you have to feed it every day, even the days you don't want to play with it!

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Ok, went and got my water tested. Chlorine of course is zero. Total Alkalinity is 11. Ph is 8. CH is 83, CA is 9...no copper & no iron. I was told to get the debris out as much as possible which is hard cause I can't see the bottom. Will try my best though. I'm getting bleach but couldn't find how much to put in for my pool per volume. Did I miss something? How much would I need?

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

TA is 11?
CYA went from 40 to 9? I'm skeptical about one or more of those results.
Is a good test kit within your means right now? I understand your situation there is temporary but at this point it's kind of just guessing...KWIM?
Welcome to TFP by the way...

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Thank you...I've got to order a good test kit. The first results were from the HTH Strips, got rid of those. I have an HTH 6way test kit but that is from last year, I'm assuming they go bad. The person who tested my water at the pool store was very young and skippe/stuttered over her words when I asked her questions.

So...I've got impatient and put 4- 196oz bottles of bleach... You can call me "DUMB DUMB"...I forgot to get muriatic acid. I will have to pick that up tomorrow after work, along with more bleach, I'm assuming. I don't know what I was thinking. Long day, guess I wasn't.

So, any suggestions as to where to go now? Do I filter all night? Wait until tomorrow to start over AFTER I get the acid? I picked up 8 gal of bleach today & used 4 so far.

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

I'd leave the filter going all night if you can (if the pressure is not rising too much or set it to recirculate if you can) and then start fresh in the morning.
Get that PH down first!... I'd trust last year's HTH 6way over pool store testing any day, LOL was the kit stored indoors?

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Yes it was stored in doors. I'd really like to get this going for the kids, I feel horrible and my husband, he'd just rather put the cover on and call it a day. So, I'm stuck with it.

I'm going to run the filter all night and I guess backwash in the morning, then start all over tomorrow evening when I get home. I will listen to and follow whatever I need to from this site. It's quite addicting. THANK YOU!!!

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Ok...added the muriatic acid to lower my ph...its been circulating for approx. 1 hour...I got a LOT of leaves out of the pool that I didn't get out last night. Not really bringing much of anything up now. From the 4 gal I put in last night the pool is a lot bluer. Not green anymore. The ph is currently at 7.5...should I wait longer or shock now?

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Originally Posted by queenb

Ok...added the muriatic acid to lower my ph...its been circulating for approx. 1 hour...I got a LOT of leaves out of the pool that I didn't get out last night. Not really bringing much of anything up now. From the 4 gal I put in last night the pool is a lot bluer. Not green anymore. The ph is currently at 7.5...should I wait longer or shock now?

If it were me, I'd recalculate, drop pH to 7.2, give it half an hour with the pump on to circulate (brushing also helps) then let 'er rip! The reason being, you won't be able to test pH while you're shocking. Well, you can, but it will be meaningless, as the chlorine will bleach out the test solution and cause it to read wrong.

Shock it! Hit it hard! Algae doesn't sleep.

16K freeform gunite with spa; Pentair 4000 DE filter; Century Whisperflow 1 HP; Pentair Minimax heater.Troublefree does not mean Maintenancefree. It's like brushing your teeth: You can spend a couple minutes a day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend several thousand dollars.A pool is like a pet - you have to feed it every day, even the days you don't want to play with it!

Re: Queen B says Hello & Help!! :)

Originally Posted by queenb

Oh...you said change the pump to recirculate...its on filter now. Do I change it? Ahhhh...

No. Just make sure the water is circulating, so it mixes. It can go through the filter. If the filter starts loading up and you don't feel like getting up in the middle of the night to clean it, then put it on recirculate.

I hope you're taking pictures of all this. A beautiful sparkling pool will incite even more envy if you show the before pictures.

16K freeform gunite with spa; Pentair 4000 DE filter; Century Whisperflow 1 HP; Pentair Minimax heater.Troublefree does not mean Maintenancefree. It's like brushing your teeth: You can spend a couple minutes a day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend several thousand dollars.A pool is like a pet - you have to feed it every day, even the days you don't want to play with it!